


This is a Rainbow War

by lululawrence



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Famous Harry, Flirting, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, No Smut, Non-Famous Louis Tomlinson, Oblivious, Pining, Rainbow Flags, Singer Harry Styles, Social Media, Travel, famous/non-famous, i give more information regarding that in the author's note if you're worried, i promise it isn't much and is literally only a mention, like obnoxious levels of flirting while the boys are still, or at least louis is, roadie Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-06 11:13:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16831513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/pseuds/lululawrence
Summary: “So what are we doing?” Niall asked as he slipped in.“Harry seems to really like rainbows,” Louis said, purposefully vague. “So let’s go ahead and make sure he’s really in the spirit.”Louis untaped the flag he’d used to hold it together and showed Niall what he had inside. He’d been keeping a wide variety of flags from each show and gathering them until he had enough to cover Harry’s entire dressing room with them.“Oh this is going to be great,” Niall said with a chuckle.“Oh my God,” Shawn said excitedly. “It’s going to look like someone puked pride flags all over a campsite.”“Exactly,” Louis said.Or, the one where Harry's a famous singer, Louis is part of his road crew, and after Harry gives Louis a special assignment regarding rainbow flags, things maybe turn out a little differently than either of them planned.





	This is a Rainbow War

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FogAndTea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FogAndTea/gifts).



> [FogandTea](http://fogandtea.tumblr.com)!!! I'm so excited to finally be getting this to you. Sorry it took so long, but hopefully with the surprise of incredible fan art by the one and only [Laura](http://harrehleh.tumblr.com), the wait was completely worth it!! I had such fun writing this and I hope it shows as you read it :D Massive thanks to [Lauren](http://fullonlarrie.tumblr.com) for organizing the entire [1dfanworksforcharity](http://1dfanworksforcharity.tumblr.com) thing! It was such fun to be a part of.
> 
> A few notes about the fic itself before I get on to thank yous. 
> 
> 1\. I know fuck all about being a roadie or working for a crew. The closest I've ever come to it is being friends with tech crew kids in high school. lollll That being said, most of that side is made up with the exception of the term "strike". Strike, for those who are unfamiliar, is the term used for tear down or break down or whatever is used where you're from. It's when they take down the stake, speakers, all that shit, so when you see it, that's what it's referring to here. And that's as accurate into that life and this job as you'll see in the fic, my apologies in advance.
> 
> 2\. Cancer and recovery is mentioned in this fic with regards to Jay. In this fic, she did have cancer but she survived and that is mentioned once or twice with regards to where Louis is in life. It is said in about as much detail as I just gave right here, but if you're still concerned please reach out to me! You can find me on tumblr [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com).
> 
> Okay! With all of that being said! The biggest of massive thanks to everyone I whined to while writing this and especially those who heaped likely undeserving praise on me as I shared snippets. It was incredibly appreciated, I promise. Even larger praises to Molly for her fab beta, [KK](http://catfishau.tumblr.com) for her amazing brit pick, and to [Lacey](http://taggiecb.tumblr.com) for attacking her with random questions about Canadian spellings and word choices. You're all incredible and I'm so lucky you put up with me. XXXXXXXX
> 
> The title of the fic is for once an original, as are all the rest of my words in the combination they are used below (especially the mistakes) and every last bit of it is fiction. Please don't share it with anyone associated with the boys, blah blah blah. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!!

Louis scrubbed at his eyes for probably the fiftieth time as he finished the long drive back to Doncaster. It was well past three by now and he had thought he would be fine to drive home after the gig, but now he was regretting not taking Stan up on the offer to stay at his in Manchester.

Louis loved his job working for various crews on music tours, but he was ready for a more steady job again. His mum was almost back to full health and had spoken to him just yesterday about how she was thankful for all of his help with his siblings and around the house, but she was ready to take the remainder of the responsibilities back now.

The cancer had been incredibly difficult and things were incredibly scary for awhile, but Jay came through it with fists swinging and the family was finally starting to breathe easily again for the first time in two years. Through all of it, Louis had refrained from taking on a full tour commission and instead opted for the single gigs that remained local. The pay wasn’t as good, but it was enough to pay the bills and still allow him to help care for the younger kids while Dan was busy taking care of Jay.

Now it was time for Louis to get back to working full time. He was good at his job, great even, so he knew it was just a matter of time before he was able to find the kind of work he was hoping for, but he’d have to start reaching out to his contacts after he’d had a good night’s rest and see what kinds of leads they could give him.

Louis’ phone vibrated from where it was sitting on the passenger seat and lit up the car. He squinted in the sudden onslaught of light and decided it was time for a quick break anyway. At the next service station, Louis parked the car and got out of the car to wake himself up a bit.

As he paced around the front of his car and shook out his limbs, he unlocked his phone and found the message that had come through was from his former boss Paul.

_Paul: Hey man, sorry to message so late but I hoped you wouldn’t mind. I know you’re trying to stay closer to home to help out your mum, but I’m hoping you might be able to help us out. We’re in a bit of a bind and could really use you. Gimme a call when you’re able, doesn’t matter the time._

Louis scrubbed his face and sent a quick response back.

_Louis: Can I call you now? I’m still awake if your crazy arse is_

Instead of texting back, Louis’ phone vibrated with a call and Paul’s face filled the screen. It was a ridiculous photo Louis had taken of him years ago which made him smile as he answered.

“Pauly, what could possibly have you texting me at this hour of the night?”

“Hey, Lou,” Paul’s familiar voice came through the phone. He’d been something of a father figure when Louis was on his first worldwide tour that took him away from home, and hearing his voice always made him miss the man a little bit. “Alright?”

“Can’t complain. You?”

“Yeah, well, I’m alright but we’re in a bind. You know Johnny MacLaren?”

“Yeah, course. He’s the one that broke his arm that first week he was with us right? Still worked fucking hard that tour. Always respect him for that. What’s up with Johnny?”

“He was one of the leads and was helping train some new kids we’ve got working with us this time,” Paul explained. “Things have been going well and all, but he’s had a bit of a family emergency and had to rush home earlier tonight. I was able to fill in for him, but we need someone pretty immediately.”

“And you were hoping I could step in?” Louis asked.

Paul cleared his throat and sounded apologetic when he spoke again. “Yeah. I know it’s a long shot and you’ve been doing your best to stay close to home and all, but I thought it was worth a try.”

“Actually,” Louis said with a chuckle. It was sometimes a little eerie how things in life turned out. “I was just thinking that I needed to reach out to a few people tomorrow and see if I could get back into the swing of things. I think I’m finally ready for that now.”

“Lou,” Paul said, sounding exhausted for the first time during this conversation. “Don’t get my hopes up just to say you can’t do this. I could really use you here. I know you’d train these two right and help me run a tight ship like Harry deserves. You were the first one who came to mind, but if you’re not going to be able to do this-”

“Hey,” Louis interrupted. “It’s too late for me to be messing with you. I still have another half an hour before I’m home and I’m at a service station talking to you, okay? So what are the deets?”

“We’re in Oslo at the moment, leave for Germany tomorrow. Or, today rather,” Paul said. “Tour goes through middle of July with a few breaks in between. It’s a proper world tour. After Europe we head to Australia, Asia, South and Central America, and then finish in North America. Pay’s great, Lou, I can’t stress that enough. Harry’s really taking care of the crew and treats us well. You won’t have anything to complain about. But we do need you in Oberhausen by Friday if possible.”

“Fuck, that’s like tomorrow, Paul.”

“I know it is, and I get it if you can’t join us that fast. I’d even take you on Saturday as long as you’re able to get here before the concert so I can introduce you to everyone and have you for strike.”

This was a much faster schedule than Louis had been anticipating, but it basically fell into his lap at the perfect time.

“I’ll have to see if I can get out of some jobs I already signed up for,” Louis said, his mind already whirling with everything he’d have to do as fast as possible in order to be ready should he accept. Who was he kidding, he had already mentally accepted and was gearing up for it. He felt energised about working as part of a regular team in a way he hadn’t in a few years and damn had he missed it. “Go ahead and send me the tour information as well as the contract and I’ll look it over. I’ll have an answer for you by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, alright?”

“I appreciate you, Louis,” Paul said. “I owe you one.”

“You owe me more than one. You owe me drinks the entire fucking tour,” Louis said. “Should I accept.”

“I’ll buy you a pint a night if that’s what it takes,” Paul agreed with a laugh. “Get yourself home. I’ll have Bebe email you the compensation information as well as all the paperwork required, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Louis said taking a deep breath. “Gotta get back on the road but I’ll call tomorrow.”

“You’re a saint,” Paul called.

“You obviously don’t remember your time with me well,” Louis said with a laugh. “Night.”

Louis had no problem keeping himself awake for the rest of the drive home.

*~~***~~*

Louis got out of the car that had been waiting for him at the train station and looked around. This hotel seemed far too nice to be the one Paul had actually wanted him to check in at. He said the front desk would have a key and room information for him, but this couldn’t be right.

“Excuse me, Are you sure this is Max-Planck-Ring 6?” Louis asked the driver.

“Yes, this is where I was instructed to bring you,” the man answered.

Louis took his bag from the boot and gave his thanks before walking warily towards the front door. He’d been expecting an Ibis or Holiday Inn. That was where they usually set up the crew and Louis wasn’t one to complain. Suited him well enough as long as breakfast was available when he wanted it.

The inside of the hotel was somehow even more luxurious than the outside.

“I am definitely not in the right place,” Louis muttered as he spun in a slow circle.

“Louis Tomlinson? You absolutely are in the right place! What perfect timing. I’m so glad you’ve arrived safely. I’m Harry.”

Louis turned quickly and saw Harry Styles with a wide smile walking towards him confidently, offering a handshake.

“I usually prefer hugs with my crew, but since you’re new I’ll ease you into it,” Harry continued with a wink.

“He’s serious,” the tall, lanky man beside Harry said quietly. “He’s really into hugs.”

Harry laughed and put his arm around the man’s shoulders. “This is Mitch, by the way. It’s so nice to meet you. Paul spoke very highly of you.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks. Well he spoke highly of you too.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I pay him to say nice things about me.”

“Also true,” Mitch said, but based on the smile that only now graced his features, Louis thought he might be joking about this one.

“Heyyyy,” Harry said with a pout.

A _pout._ Seriously? This was the famous pop star that had girls swooning? He seemed a bit ridiculous for all that, but Louis wasn’t one to judge.

“Anyway, I’m glad I saw you before I had to leave. I had a brilliant idea as I was falling asleep last night and I was hoping you’d be in charge of it.”

 _Great,_ Louis thought. _Another headliner who thought Louis could just take on any odd job they wanted of him. Doesn’t he have a personal assistant for these random tasks?_

“Okay,” Louis finally said out loud.

“See, my fans are very...passionate...about rainbows. They like to bring them to my shows, do projects, all kinds of really awe inspiring things in the name of creating a safe space and I want to help foster that. They often leave behind some rainbows, either on stage or with security and such, and I had been donating them to various LGBT charities while keeping the odd ones for myself, but I want to collect them now.”

“What, all of them?” Louis asked. “From every show?”

Louis was a little confused why rainbows were such a big deal at a pop concert, but he wouldn’t complain. If he’d had a safe space like that when he was younger, coming out might not have been such a hard time for him.

“Yeah, all of them. It’s a kind of project that I’ve got in mind, but it is going to take a lot of rainbows. Plus,” Harry scratched at his nose a little before continuing, “some venues and countries don’t allow them. We need backups in case anything should happen.”

“Well. Sure. Okay, then. I’ll be helping assist with strike after the show, so it shouldn’t be a problem to gather the rainbows for you. Where do you want me to store them?”

“Anywhere you can find room, really.”

“Ehm. Well, alright.”

Harry’s smile was blinding it was so bright now. “Great. Thank you so much. I’ve got to go, and I’m sorry that your first night on tour is just a one night stay, but I promise I do try to have us stay at locations for more than one night if possible. Good luck getting settled in and I’ll see you tonight!”

A member of security had approached them without Louis even noticing and escorted Harry and Mitch out of the doors. Only then did Louis realise he was still standing in the lobby, unsure that he truly was at the right place.

He turned to the woman working the front desk and asked, “You don’t happen to have a reservation for Louis Tomlinson, do you?”

“Yes I do, sir,” she replied.

Louis nodded dumbly, still filled with disbelief. With the amount of money he was making, he hadn’t expected to be staying at luxury hotels as well. Harry was going to spoil him for all future employers, and Louis couldn’t say he much minded.

*~~***~~*

The gig in Munich had finished up a couple of hours earlier and Louis was glad to have a few days break before the next show in Barcelona. First, though, he had to find some more creative places to stow these rainbow flags.

Louis suspected Harry’s “project” was just to make the entire tour as rainbow coloured as absolutely possible, because Louis had started finding the rainbows he had painstakingly tucked away hung about backstage.

That was fine. Two could play that game.

“Niall, Liam, come here for a minute,” Louis called as the two leads for stage left and stage right respectively were finishing their equipment checks before allowing the crew to start loading the trucks with the next round.

“What’s up, Lou? Did Shawn break something again?” Niall asked, obviously teasing since he said it with a wide smile. Louis had begun to think Niall was a little soft on the new kid, but he’d wait to see how it played out a little longer before asking him about it.

“Nah. I thought we could start a bit of a competition,” Louis said. Once Liam had joined them, Louis handed them each half the rainbow flags Louis had rolled up and in his arms. “I thought it might be nice for the crew to get into the celebration of rainbows, yeah? We’ve got enough and continue to gather more every night. What if we started to see how they could best decorate their gear and storage containers? The best use of these flags without messing up the fit of the equipment and shit. You get what I mean? I’m not wording this well because I just had the idea, it’s not fully formed yet.”

“You want them to use the rainbows?” Liam asked. “On the equipment?”

“Not the stuff used for the shows. Just the backstage shit and storage containers. We could even have awards given every week or summat. Best decorated. Most flamboyant. Could have themes occasionally or whatever.” Louis watched their faces for reactions, but couldn’t read either man. “Come on, it’s too late and we’re all too tired for you guys to keep me guessing. If the idea is shit then it’s shit and just tell me already.”

“We need better themes than that, cause those are shit,” Niall said, “but I’m up for it. Would be good for morale or whatever, plus I think Harry would get a right laugh out of it.”

When Niall mentioned Harry, Louis had an idea and snatched back one of the hand held miniature rainbow flags.

“Great,” Louis said, clapping his hands together. “Spread the word, have everyone brainstorm themes and shit, and we’ll start it next week. The collecting of rainbows obviously started a few days ago.”

Louis flapped his arms and sent Liam and Niall on their way. He made sure Hailee and Shawn were still listening to Chris on the proper way to load their assigned truck before Louis snuck to where wardrobe was carefully taking care of the wide array of suits.

“Do you unpack them every night then?” Louis asked.

The poor girl jumped with her hand over her heart. “Oh my God, you need to warn me before you do that,” she said, laughing a little hysterically. “Not every suit. We have certain shows where we know the specific designer he wants to wear, but not which outfit necessarily. Others it’s just kind of what Harry feels like. I try to have at least five or six at nearly every show for him to choose from.”

Louis nodded, not wanting to be rude but it was a little late for him to be taking in the details. “Do you mind if I just...tuck this in as a surprise for him?” Louis asked, waving the little flag.

The girl, Louis really needed to do better with names, smiled widely. “Go ahead. The inner pockets might be best.”

“Cheers.” Louis peeked at a few suits, probably worth more than Louis’ entire flat, and carefully put the flag into one of them. “There we are. Thank you for your help.”

Louis turned around and froze. Harry was on the other side of the room, with his back turned, but had he been there the entire time? How could Louis have missed him?

He allowed himself to watch as Harry interacted with his security and one of the sound crew guys. Harry had continued to impress Louis with how hands on and inclusive he was with his entire team that travelled with him. Louis would never admit it because it was absolutely ridiculous and unprofessional, but he was starting to harbour a bit of a crush on the man.

Crush. What an awful word. He hated that he was a twenty-six year old man using it, much less for the guy that was essentially his boss. But here he was.

Harry glanced up from the group he’d been laughing with and waved at Louis.

“Shit,” Louis muttered while trying to smile and wave as if he hadn’t just been caught staring. Wonderful.

Finally spurred back into action and reminded of how late it was, Louis hustled back to where he should have been before he had his brilliant rainbow stashing idea. He quickly got back to work and helped finish the loading duties so they could all get back to the hotel before a day filled with travel and stress.

*~~***~~*

“Lou, tighten the bolts by you one more turn,” Zayn called out.

The show in Barcelona was just as great as Louis had come to expect with one small issue. The infrastructure supporting the screens that rose to reveal Harry, the band, and the rest of the stage was showing a fairly significant sign of weakness that hadn’t been there in Munich or any of the other previous shows. Before taking it down, Zayn had wanted to do a few checks on it to see if he could pinpoint the issue so he could brainstorm what they would need to do in order to avoid the issue getting worse. Time was quickly running out for when they needed to be out of the arena, though, and everyone was feeling more than a little stressed.

“Shit,” Zayn muttered before yelling, “It’s too much! It’s too much, stop what you’re doing!”

“Fuck,” Louis said before climbing back down to assess the crack. “I don’t understand why having the bolts tightened as they have been every show is suddenly causing enough stress for the screens to start to separate.”

“We’re going to have to look into it another time. Hopefully it’s only this one and not the one we’ve sent ahead to Madrid that’s having these problems. Thanks for the help.” Zayn said with a pat on Louis’ shoulder before he picked up his walkie-talkie and started explaining the issue and his ideas for how to fix it while Louis gave Zayn’s team the go ahead to start tear down on the screens.

Most everything was taken down and ready to be checked by the team leads, which Louis was relieved to see. Half of the crew had already gone ahead to Madrid once they were set up in Barcelona and, while everything had gone smoothly using this schedule for strike and set up on the previous back to back shows, this had been the first time something major had happened regarding the equipment, therefore leaving the crew to work largely unsupervised by either Paul or Louis.

Louis gave a few instructions before he found where security had piled the rainbow flags for him to gather. Louis grabbed the stack and was about to start tucking them into whatever spaces he could find when he had an idea. He unfolded one of the flags and used it as a carry-all for the rest before taping it together and putting it in the vehicle that would be driving him to Milan.

Rainbows stowed, Louis went back in to help with the equipment checks so they could load the trucks and head out.

*~~***~~*

“Did you post this to your personal accounts or the team accounts you made last year?” Louis asked as he laughed at the photos.

The first decorating competition had gone well and the photos of those participating in the costume portion were hilarious. Louis was incredibly glad he’d had this idea. The rainbow superheroes that were the crew members had Louis laughing hard enough he’d taken a bi flag himself to use as a cape. Mabel had just finished her set and he hadn’t taken it off yet, it was too much fun.

“Both,” Liam said with a giggle, his shoulders rising a little as he tried to keep the sound in. It wasn’t successful, but it was still fun to watch him try. “Some of them have been keeping progress reports on their personal accounts, but the finished products have all gone on the team accounts.”

“Nice,” Louis said. “Is Niall almost done with the trophy?”

“Yeah,” Liam said, checking his watch. “He said he wanted to finish perfecting it but that it would be ready before Harry had to get on stage.”

“Good, cause he’s pushing it. Harry isn’t going to get to award the winners himself if Niall doesn’t hurry.”

Louis checked to be sure his currently hidden cluster of rainbow flags was still where he’d stashed it and, when he returned, both Niall and Harry were with the rest of the crew awaiting the results of the first week’s competition.

Harry looked up and gave Louis a wide smile, dimples and all, when Louis rejoined the group and it was then Louis realised his grave error.

Harry leaned in quite close and whispered into Louis’ ear. “So who won the first round?”

Barely breathing thanks to the delicious wisps of mint chewing gum and Tom Ford aftershave combined with the tickles Harry’s curls gave Louis’ temple from his close stance, Louis swallowed harshly.

This was a completely horrible idea. Louis needed to keep his distance from Harry Styles at all times if he was going to resist the man. Which of course meant that Louis leant in to answer him.

“Stage Left by a wide margin,” Louis whispered, allowing his lips to ever so slightly brush the corner of Harry’s jaw.

 _Abort!_ Louis’ mind blared. _May day!_ Louis took a deep steadying breath, which only served to remind him how incredible Harry smelled, and tried to lean back a bit. He succeeded, barely, but not before seeing some goosebumps erupt along Harry’s neck. Louis hoped he caused that.

Clearing his throat, Harry held up the newly decorated fake Oscar trophy Niall had pulled together. It was bedecked in glittery rainbow tape, and Louis loved it.

“The first week of competition is complete and I was going to give a ridiculous speech, but Paul is glaring at me as is Gloria, which means I’m late for my vocal warm ups so I can get on stage and do my job or whatever.” Harry gave a cheesy grin while the crew laughed a little.

The group was smaller than Louis had hoped for, but they were so close to show time, the sound and lighting guys were already in their places. It made sense. They would have to figure out a better time to award the winners next week.

“Congratulations to Stage Left for winning the _Rainbow Superheroes_ week! Next week’s theme is _Somewhere Over the Rainbow._ Good luck and may the rainbows be ever in your favour.” Harry handed the trophy to Carla with a flourished bow and rushed out of the room.

“He’s a complete nutter, but you’ve gotta love him,” Niall said, shaking his head.

Louis gave a light chuckle and tried to forget about how the muscles in Harry’s shoulders moved as he walked away.

“Yeah. So, I’ve got a plan but I need some help. Join me in Harry’s dressing room once he’s on stage?”

Niall gave Louis a smirk. “I don’t know what you’re up to but I definitely want to be a part of it. See you there in about fifteen.”

Louis took a quick photo of the winners with their trophy then left to grab his packet of rainbows for Harry’s dressing room. Louis looked over his shoulder before walking into the room marked with Harry’s name. He felt ridiculously nervous, which made no sense because he wasn’t doing anything Harry hadn’t already done. Just a few days ago in Milan Harry had gone into the room Louis and Paul had been using as an office and turned all of the furniture upside down. It made no sense and he never had explained why he’d done it, but it was amusing and fun and Louis had been sure to drag Harry on Instagram for it.

Now was his turn for revenge, of sorts.

“So what are we doing?” Niall asked as he slipped in.

“Harry seems to really like rainbows,” Louis said, purposefully vague. “So let’s go ahead and make sure he’s really in the spirit.”

Louis untaped the flag he’d used to hold it together and showed Niall what he had inside. He’d been keeping a wide variety of flags from each show and gathering them until he had enough to cover Harry’s entire dressing room with them. He’d initially planned to decorate his room in Madrid, but the screen had caused more issues so he had to postpone it. Finally, almost a week after he had originally planned, Louis could deck out Harry’s dressing room.

Louis had also taken to tucking mini flags into Harry’s inner pockets of his suits and the trousers he wore on stage, so it was always a surprise as to when Harry would find them. He’d found all of them while still in his dressing room so far, but Louis was hoping at least one would make it on stage with Harry at some point. Especially since Louis had started tucking more than just one in each outfit.

“Oh this is going to be great,” Niall said with a chuckle. “Can I get a few others to help us out?”

“Sure,” Louis said with a shrug. He started taking a trans pride flag and a bi flag to hang across the wall behind the couch. He also started draping rainbows between all of the chairs in a sort of fort structure so by the time Niall returned with a few others, Louis knew exactly what he wanted the room to look like.

“Oh my God,” Shawn said excitedly. “It’s going to look like someone puked pride flags all over a campsite.”

“Exactly,” Louis said. “Like a Pride Parade meets Leeds Festival or something.”

Twenty minutes later, Louis’ vision had been realised.

“Harry’s gonna die,” Liam said, unable to hold back his chuckles. “Are we going to post the photos or just take them and save them for later?”

“Save them for later,” Niall said as he continued to take video of the room. “Let’s see his reaction to it first and see where it goes from here.”

*~~***~~*

Strike was easy enough, but with half of the crew already on their way to Mannheim for the next show and the remainder of the crew starting to get tired after being on the road for a few weeks, loading the trucks took longer than usual. Everyone was moving slow and Louis had a hard time keeping them motivated. It was rough, but he found they always hit a bit of a wall after the first three or four weeks before things really clicked and it became more second nature being on their crazy schedule. Louis was just excited for the return to England in a few more days.

It felt like ages, but eventually Louis woke up to see that they had arrived in Mannheim. Thankfully he wasn’t on initial set up duty and he dragged his exhausted self into the hotel to sleep for a few hours on a nice bed before he had to show up to the arena. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to find it had died at some point during the drive. That wasn’t too surprising, but usually the charge up he gave it before leaving the arena was enough to last for the drive.

He dug around for his charger and brushed his teeth while he waited for it to power up enough to send a quick message to his mum and let her know he’d made it safely to the next town.

“Hey, Louis. Care which bed you take?” Louis stuck his head out of the bathroom and saw Shawn standing between the two beds looking half dead, poor guy. Then again, Louis was sure he didn’t look any better.

“Naw,” Louis said carefully through his mouthful of toothpaste. He went back to the sink to spit and start rinsing. Over the water, Shawn kept talking.

“Did you see what Harry posted about our rainbow attack?”

Once he could speak easily again, Louis walked out to the room and stripped off his shirt before throwing himself down onto the bed Shawn hadn’t claimed. “No, what did he do?”

Louis’ phone came back to life then and started buzzing nonstop. Alarmed, Louis forced himself to crawl over to the nightstand so he could figure out what was going on with his phone.

Alert after alert took over his phone for Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

“What the fuck?” Louis said to himself. These notifications were for people tagging him, following, requesting to follow him, commenting on his photos, _everything._

“So, that’s because of Harry,” Shawn said, laughing. “His fans had known about the stage left and stage right accounts for awhile and some of them had known about a few of us that show up on those accounts regularly, but Harry made a post thanking us for his new dressing room decor and included a photo Christian took of you judging the costumes saying he had an idea of who was behind it, and after that all of our social media started blowing up.”

“This is insane,” Louis said. “I’m going to have to turn notifications off now or something until I figure out how to handle this. No wonder my phone died. I’m surprised this didn’t wake me up in the car on the way here.”

Louis opened Instagram and the first thing on his feed was Harry’s post showing the various rainbows around his dressing room, but when Louis scrolled to the other photo Harry had posted, Louis had been expecting a photo of his back or something really showcasing the rainbow superheros. He hadn’t anticipated a photo in which he was obviously the main focus.

Heart racing, Louis studied the photo. It was beautiful. He was quite pleased with it over all, but was also a bit chagrined that Harry knew exactly who was behind his dressing room decor. Then again, he was the one Harry had asked to collect the rainbows and Harry was quite aware of Louis hiding them in his suits, so he supposed the connection wasn’t too tenuous.

All the same. The fact that Harry had posted what looked to be a photo portrait of Louis on his Instagram was both flattering and overwhelming.

“Tommo, did you hear me?” Shawn was waving his hand halfheartedly from where he was laying on his own bed. “This is war now. Harry just escalated this to another level.” Looking like a serious and half asleep puppy, Shawn said, “This is a _Rainbow War.”_

Louis snorted. “Yeah, mate. That’s exactly what this is.”

Once his alerts were turned off for him to play with in a few hours after he’d got some sleep in a real bed, Louis flipped back to Instagram and made his own post of the selfie Niall had taken of the whole crew that had worked on the room with the plethora of rainbows behind them. He tagged Harry in the photo along with the other smiling faces and captioned it simply _This is a Rainbow War._

“I used your name for it, hope you don’t mind,” Louis said with a big yawn. “Alarm’s set for three. Sweet dreams.” And with that, Louis’ eyes closed and his mind filled his dreams with rainbows.

*~~***~~*

That night Harry waved two little miniature rainbows from his pockets while on stage before picking up the larger ones to prance with. Louis wasn’t sure if it was because Harry blatantly brought his own rainbows to wave or if it was because of the social media posts that had gone insane, but whatever the cause there were even more rainbow flags to find homes for than before.

Louis also found rainbow stickers - that none of his crew would take credit for - adorning his binders with the various duty rosters and checklists for every venue. He stuffed the flags from tonight’s concert into a broken amp for the time being and handed out the ones that wouldn’t fit to the various team leads who were participating in the weekly competitions, hoping they would find places for them. Louis had noticed some of them had started gathering rainbow boas and other items that Louis hadn’t even given them, so he wasn’t sure if they were purchasing the items or doing their own scavenging after the concerts, but either way Louis was pleased.

“Hey, Lou?”

Louis turned around and saw Irma walking towards him. “Hey, Irma. You having more trouble with the yellow lights, because that’s really more Zayn’s thing than mine.”

“No, he fixed those before the show,” she said, but she held out a flag that said _Love is Love_ on it. “We were going to use this to decorate one of the boxes, but we noticed there’s a note on it and thought you should have it.”

“A note?” Louis asked, confused. He didn’t realise people left notes on the flags they tossed on stage or shoved into the hands of security. He looked up from the flag and Irma was already gone, the sneaky thing.

Inspecting it, Louis didn’t see anything until he looked closer at the white binding along the side with the brackets. There, written in black felt tip pen, was a message that read

> _Louis, you’re gorgeous! Are you single? We love you! Mattias, Markus, Johanna, and Laura_

Louis made a surprised gurgling noise and immediately looked around himself to see if anyone else had noticed the message. Of course they hadn’t. They were all busy working just like he should be. Louis quickly took the flag and put it on like a cape and made it his goal to keep walking so fast that even if people noticed there was writing on it, they wouldn’t see what it said and he could figure out what to do with it later.

The next morning, Louis still didn’t know what to do with it.

“What am I supposed to say? Thank you, I’m flattered, but I don’t know you?” Louis said, hands flapping in the air. “It’s not like they even gave me a way to answer them. Do they want me to make a post about it online or something?”

“Maybe,” Liam said with a shrug. “Niall likes doing those question and answer things on Twitter and Instagram. For whatever reason, Harry’s fans are really interested in getting to know all the people who work near him so he gets a good amount of people participating. You could do that kinda thing too.”

Louis scrunched his nose. “I’m not going to do a question and answer session, especially if I’m going to get comments and questions like this. I’m still embarrassed thinking about what they wrote.”

“What who wrote?”

Louis’ eyes bulged and he coughed on his muesli before getting himself under control. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he saw Harry had settled down at their breakfast table.

“Louis’ got admirers,” Liam answered. “Someone left a flag with a message to him last night saying he’s gorgeous.”

“Is that all?” Harry asked, stirring his porridge. “I thought it would be a bit more rude than just that to get you so flustered, to be honest.”

“Not all of us are rock stars accustomed to having people swoon at them on the daily,” Louis said, cheeks heating up. “I’m just some dirty roadie who keeps in shape by lifting heavy equipment for pop stars.”

“Oh come on,” Harry said, dimples popping out even with his shy smile. “I’m sure you have plenty of admirers. You’re well fit.”

Louis’ heart raced and he sputtered a milky laugh. Once he had finally figured out how to swallow again, he couldn’t even formulate a full sentence.

“I’m...you...I don’t...what?”

“Well done,” Liam said, standing up and patting Harry on the shoulder. “You’ve broken him.”

Harry laughed, his eyes bright as he watched Louis closely. Louis quickly wiped the milk from his chin and continued to shovel muesli into his mouth. What was he supposed to say in response to Harry, Most Beautiful Human Alive, saying he was fit? There was no appropriate response, so Louis continued to eat as his cheeks continued to burn.

“So, Louis, Keeper of the Rainbows and Crew Extraordinaire, how’s your family doing? Are you going to be able to see them while we’re home?”

Family. That’s a safe topic.

“Oh, they’re doing well.” Louis smiled and sighed a little thinking of them. “I miss them quite a bit since this is the most I’ve been away in a few years, but mum said they’re all keeping busy and adjusting well so that’s great. I’m hoping to see them after the Manchester show, but we’ll have to see.”

“Are they going to be able to come see a show?”

Louis shook his head and swallowed some of his orange juice. “No, the tickets were a bit pricey for as many of them as there are, plus they’d need a hotel and such.” Louis shrugged. “I send them video when I can. It’s okay.”

Harry looked aghast. “No, it’s not okay. Why would they need to pay? Louis. Every crew member has the opportunity to get tickets for their family. You knew that, right?”

“Yeah, but most people don’t have as large of family as I have.” Louis arched his brow. “I’m talking between my mum and stepdad and siblings I would need eight tickets.”

“Okay?” Harry said as if he still didn’t understand the issue. Most tours Louis had been on had a cap at four tickets for family and friends. As Harry continued, it became clear he didn’t subscribe to that notion. “That’s not a problem, Louis. If they want to come to London, my family is coming to the second show. They could sit with my mum and sister. We could even get them some rooms in our hotel.”

“What? No, Harry. I can’t have you paying for my family’s rooms too. That’s too much.”

“Be quiet, Louis. It’s happening. I’m already texting Alexa to get it all arranged. Make sure the dates work for them and we’ll make sure the rest is taken care of.”

Louis’ sisters were going to flip. They’d loved Harry for years and had never been able to see him. They had requested photos of him on stage, which Louis had been more than willing to supply them with, but that was all. They loved knowing their brother was near their idol. Learning they’d get to see him live at the O2 and sitting with his family no less? Louis was going to win brother of the year, for sure.

“Thank you, Harry. That’s very generous.”

Louis’ heart skipped a beat as Harry gave him a blushing smile before being dragged away to a meeting. Louis found himself alone at the table, but he didn’t mind it. It gave him time to talk to his family and wrap his head around the fact that Harry really was that giving and kind.

*~~***~~*

As the tour continued, Louis continued to stash flags around Harry’s belongings and he continued to find rainbow heart stickers on more of his equipment. He hadn’t had a chance for a full blown rainbow attack again, but he had high hopes for London. In the meantime he had been able to fill Harry’s fancy leather bag with a large number of full size pride flags, stuff some sheets of pride flag stickers that had been left in the pit one night in with Harry’s exercise gear, and drape feather boas around his dressing room so there were various coloured feathers on all of his things.

Harry continued to post about it on his social media, always alluding to the fact he knew it was Louis but never outright saying it, and meanwhile Louis’ follower count was exploding, particularly with comments from Harry’s fans asking all sorts of questions, some sweet and some downright inappropriate. It was fine. Totally fine. Louis was just really starting to wonder if every binder, walkie-talkie, and item he had for tour was going to end up completely plastered with rainbow hearts.

Secretly, he didn’t really mind. He thought they were cute. But he was also a bit confused why no one else seemed to have them covering their items as well.

“Is anyone else finding these rainbow hearts on their things?” Louis asked as he made sure the tape cues were where they should be. He’d found more on his walkie talkie this afternoon. As far as he knew, no one else had them so he was at a bit of a loss.

“I think you’ve got a secret admirer on staff,” Hailee teased.

“Shut up, I do not,” Louis fought back. “It’s just part of the rainbow wars or something, I’m sure.”

Hailee stared at Louis for a moment before blinking and saying, completely straight faced, “Sure, Jan,” and walking away.

Louis watched as she walked away, his eyebrows furrowed, and yelled, “Who the fuck is Jan?”

“I think it’s one of those meme things the kids are all into these days,” a deep voice from behind Louis said. The slow drawl made goosebumps immediately ripple up Louis’ spine, and there was no denying who it belonged to.

“Oh my God, Harry,” Louis teased as he turned around and tried to not choke on his tongue. Harry was standing there in the bright pink trousers he’d worn for the concert and a white t-shirt that was so sheer, Louis could make out the dark shadows indicating where Harry’s tattoos lie. Louis really needed to stop lusting after the rock star. It was never going to happen.

Clearing his throat and trying to not look ridiculous, Louis blinked and finally finished the thought from earlier by saying, “You are far too young to sound as old as you did right then.”

Harry gave a smirk and leaned against the wall. “At least I know what Hailee was referencing, unlike you, Grandpa.”

“Rude,” Louis said, finger pointed at Harry’s chest. “That was incredibly rude and uncalled for, and I don’t have to take it.”

Louis gave a sniff, one last surreptitious glance at Harry’s torso, and got about five steps away before he realised he had left his rainbow sticker covered binder next to Harry. Louis froze and let his head hang back so he could stare at the ceiling so he could contemplate whether there was any chance at saving this encounter still.

There wasn’t.

Slowly, Louis turned back around and saw Harry standing there, feigning innocence as he flipped through the paperwork.

“Oh, did you need this?” Harry asked, before holding it out for Louis. “It does look rather important. Don’t wanna lose it.”

Louis rolled his eyes but couldn’t help smiling as well.

Before Louis could say anything, Harry offered a quiet, “Love the stickers,” gave a little wink, and walked out onto the floor, probably to chat with the sound guys like he usually did after talking with the crew leads. It was a nightly ritual Harry kept to if possible, where he would chat with the entire crew as they worked and made sure they knew he appreciated them. Louis was determined not to let it make him like Harry even more, but it seemed a bit too late for that.

Watching Harry’s hips sway in a way that couldn’t be natural, Louis allowed himself just this once to hope that maybe the gesture was for him. Then he turned back to his notebook and headed back to the office with Paul.

“Have you not got Harry to stop decorating your shit yet?” Paul asked as soon as Louis set the paperwork down.

“I’m sorry, Harry? Like, Styles?” Louis asked, confused.

“The lanky one selling all the tickets? Yeah, that one,” Paul said laughing at Louis. “Did you really not know it was him doing it all?”

Louis slowly shook his head. Hailee had said something about it being an admirer, and sometimes it did seem like Harry was flirting with Louis, but no. He needed to get that possibility out of his head.

“Well, it’s definitely Harry. Now, let’s get everything settled because I want to finish everything up for the rest of this leg tonight so I can get started on the Australia documentation.”

They settled down to work, and Louis mostly rid his head of Harry.

*~~***~~*

Louis woke up and stretched. There were only four cities in which they were spending more than one night at the arena, and Louis was incredibly relieved and happy that London was one of them and they’d finally reached it. Perhaps not finally in the grand scheme of things, they still had several months of traveling left to go, but it was nearly the end of the first leg of the tour as well as the first double gig city. It felt like a milestone for the tour and the staff. He was going to relish it.

The show last night had gone smoothly, and it took almost no time to take care of the equipment that needed to be catalogued and inspected before leaving for the night. The crew had gone out to party for a bit, which was great, but Louis hadn’t been drinking like that in ages and couldn’t bring himself to drink more than a couple of Stellas before he called it a night.

Louis might have been more up for a night out if his family wasn’t coming the next morning. Or if Harry had joined them. As it was, though, he was going to get a full night’s sleep in the hotel while he could.

It felt like it had been ages since he’d been able to sleep until he woke up naturally. Rolling over to grab his phone, it buzzed right as he unplugged it from the charger.

_Instagram: harrystyles posted a photo_

Louis blinked twice. He knew now was about the time Harry usually posted the photo from the night before, but his heart was racing. Because maybe it was the most recent rainbow attack.

Harry had actually left the arena soon after the concert ended and Louis had taken advantage. There hadn’t been much for him to do while everyone was either already waiting at the pub or finishing what little work there was to do, but Louis decided to take the time to decorate Harry’s dressing room so it would be ready to surprise him when he returned the next day. It was only eleven, Harry likely wasn’t at the arena already, but there was always a chance.

Opening the alert, Louis couldn’t help the soft squeal he let out when he saw the photo.

It was a beautifully framed photo of Harry, in black trousers and t-shirt, standing to profile in his dressing room while the rainbows Louis had covered every surface with created a background of rioting colors. It made Harry look like he was floating, a stark contrast to the background, but he didn’t look austere or severe. If anything, he looked soft and content, the hints of a smile gracing his face.

Then, Louis saw the caption.

_harrystyles: It seems my rainbow lover has returned with more decorations._

What the fuck did that mean? Was Harry labeling Louis as a lover of rainbows? Or as his Rainbow Lover? Was that good? Snide? Sarcastic? Louis had far too many questions and not enough answers. Also, Harry knew it was Louis, right? Was he doing this to intentionally mess with Louis’ head?

Louis was still sitting in bed, unwashed and only wearing last night’s pants, when his phone rang with a call from his mum. Shit. They were probably already there.

“Hey, mum,” Louis said, cringing a bit. “Are you here?”

“We are,” Jay replied, sounding a bit breathless but happy. “We’re getting settled in the room. Are you about ready to meet us?”

“Not quite,” Louis said, as he climbed out of bed. “I just woke up, so I’ve yet to shower and such.”

Tutting a little, Jay gave an instruction to Phoebe about her bag and then focused on Louis again. “Alright, love. Well how about you call me when you’re ready and we’ll meet you in the lobby. Lord knows the girls want to get freshened up before we head out for a bit of shopping before the concert.”

Louis chuckled and they hung up shortly after. He got ready as fast as possible, not wanting to let the day waste away when it might be the last chance he had to see his family until July.

He stepped off the lift, shrugging on his jean jacket and scarf over his traditional black t-shirt and fitted joggers he would wear for work before he heard a squeal and quick footsteps crossing the posh lobby.

Louis’ head snapped up and he saw all four of his sisters racing towards him as his mum looked on fondly from her seat.

“Louis!” Daisy squealed as all of them wrapped him in a tight hug where he didn’t know which limbs belonged to which girl, but it also didn’t matter. He was with his girls again after being away longer than he had in years, and it felt amazing.

“Hello, loves,” he said, laughing at how they kept squealing and bouncing. He knew not all the excitement was over seeing him, but he’d take a bit of the Harry excitement as his anyway. “Get them cuddles in. I’ve miss you lot.”

“I’m assuming you know these girls?” a teasing voice asked from behind Louis. “I’m a bit worried I should have asked security to stay with me now.”

“You need to stop sneaking up from behind me, Harry,” Louis snarked, unable to move as of yet, though his sisters were slowly unwinding themselves from around him once they realised who had joined them.

“You make it too easy, I’m afraid,” Harry said, entirely unapologetic if the wide grin on his face was indicative. “Hello, you must be Louis’ sisters. I’m Harry.”

“We know,” Phoebe said as Lottie elbowed her and tried to not look too starstruck.

“Yes, well since they’re not going to introduce themselves, I suppose I will,” Louis said, acting put out about it. Truly, he was surprised the girls hadn’t all attacked Harry once they’d seen him. “This is Felicite, Daisy, Phoebe, and Lottie. And joining us now is my mum, Johannah.”

“Please call me Jay,” she requested as she held a hand out for Harry. “Thank you so much for the amazing accommodations and the tickets. We are very grateful you’re taking such great care of Louis, and now this. It’s very lovely of you.”

Harry blushed a little, but gave her a smile. “Oh, it’s my pleasure. Everyone on the crew works so hard. It’s all I can do to thank them any way I can. I couldn’t do a tour without them or the fans.”

“He’s a smooth talker,” Fizzy whispered to Louis. “Is he always like this?”

Louis hummed and gave a subtle nod making Fizzy’s eyebrows rise. Louis just shrugged as if to say, _I know, he’s insane and I don’t even know why._

“Well unfortunately I must be going,” Harry said, and it was only then Louis realised Harry was at the hotel but he had only just posted a photo of him in his dressing room.

“Wait,” Louis said, bringing everyone’s attention to himself. He hadn’t meant to do that, he really needed to work on his brain to mouth filter. “I mean, of course you can go. Just wanted to thank you again for their tickets and such, Harry.” Louis was not going to broach the topic of the photo just yet. He would text Harry or something.

After all. Maybe that would finally be the perfect way to use the mobile number Harry had offered him the first week he was on tour. Louis had wanted to use it before now, but he hadn’t found a good enough reason. This could be the perfect excuse.

Harry gave Louis a dimpled smile and a slight bow at Louis’ entire family before he walked out of the hotel into his waiting car.

“Did that man just bow to us?” Jay asked, chuckling.

“Well. Yes. Yes he did,” Louis said, unsure how to explain it. That right there was pretty much Harry summed up.

“What an odd duck,” Lottie said as she watched the car pull away from the curb.

Louis followed his mum and sisters out and let them lead the way to wherever they wanted to shop as he unlocked his phone and thumbed to Harry’s contact.

_Louis: So I was expecting you to already be at the arena with the photo you posted to Insta and all_

His phone vibrated almost immediately with a message back from Harry.

_Harry: Do you follow my Instagram then, Louis Tomlinson? I didn’t post it that long ago._

Louis rolled his eyes.

_Louis: Don’t play coy with me, you know I follow you. And of course I know you didn’t post it that long ago. That’s why I’m asking about the timing. I’m curious when the photo was taken._

He had started saying something more about how he thought Harry had already left the arena when he decorated the room, but quickly backtracked. That would be admitting officially he was behind the rainbows that continued to randomly be shoved into Harry’s bags, pockets, and other various belongings. Harry knew, he’d essentially said so from his first post on Instagram, but it was different to actually _say_ it.

Instead of a text as Louis had been expecting, Louis got a Twitter alert from Harry’s account instead.

_harry_styles: I think my rainbow lover wants more attention._

Louis squawked and went back to his texting conversation with Harry, ignoring his sisters and mum. This was down to pride now. It needed to be immediately addressed so Harry didn’t think he was getting away with anything.

_Louis: Who said anything about wanting more attention?!_

Harry, infuriatingly enough, just sent back a gif of Han Solo shrugging with a gun then went inactive. Rude.

“Lou, why is Harry calling you his rainbow lover?”

Louis’ eyes widened and he looked up at his sisters and mum, all of which were watching him with mischief in their eyes.

“Why do you think I’m whoever his rainbow lover is?” Louis asked, his voice going a bit high and squeaky.

Lottie rolled her eyes and kept walking as the other three girls started talking over each other. He just shook his head and waved his hands at them until they quietened down and his mum came over beside him. They walked into a clothes shop and Louis should have known this was what his afternoon would entail.

“So what’s going on with Harry really?”

Louis side eyed her and saw her smirking.

“Muuuuum,” Louis whined as he threw his arm around her shoulder and squeezed her into his side. “I thought I was at least safe with you.”

“Ohhh, you silly boy,” she said, laughing and pinching his side before wrapping her arms around him. “You should know you’re never safe from my line of questioning.”

Louis hummed and nodded as he watched the girls fan out around the shop. “There’s not much to tell, really. He does his thing and I do mine. Sometimes I decorate his dressing room with rainbows.” Louis shrugged. “It’s just a stupid thing.”

“But he calls you his rainbow lover and you like him,” Jay said.

Louis pressed his lips together and looked up at the ceiling as he tried to get his facial expressions under control. “Ehm. Yeah, pretty much.”

Jay leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Well. He seems to like you too.”

Louis gave his mum a soft smile and watched as she started walking towards where Daisy was waving for her. Before she got too far away, she turned around and said, “I can’t wait to meet his mum!”

“No,” Louis nearly shouted before remembering where he was. “Don’t you dare, Johannah!”

His mum’s laughter trailed behind her and despite being surrounded by women’s clothing he couldn’t care less about and the constant teasing, Louis was happy to be with his family again.

*~~***~~*

“Why are you pacing like you’re nervous?” Niall asked as he smacked Louis on his shoulder.

Harry’s concert was almost done and then they’d be back to the schedule of packing everything up before heading to Glasgow, but Louis felt a buzzing of nerves beneath his skin that had led to him pacing the backstage area.

Louis shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m not really nervous? Just...antsy?”

Niall laughed and then said, “It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact your family is with Harry’s family talking about you two, could it?”

Louis’ eyes shot open and he spun back towards Niall. “What? Why would you think that?”

Laughing so hard he bent over at his waist and held his stomach, Niall said, “Mate, you just confirmed it!”

Louis sputtered his disbelief until Niall said, “Man, I owe Liam some money, but that was well worth it.”

“Wait, what were you betting on?” Louis asked, confused. Niall wasn’t making any sense at all.

“Oh all sorts of things. Mainly that you wouldn’t be able to keep from your mum how flustered Harry makes you or some shit.” Niall shrugged and pulled Louis in for a hug before laughing loudly in his ear again. “Hey, would it make you feel better to shove some more rainbows in Harry’s things?”

Louis pouted. “Maybe. But I don’t have any that need to go anywhere at the moment. It’ll have to wait until after the concert.”

“Sure thing, lover boy. Just be sure to look at the binder, yeah? You weren’t here for set up, but there’s something for ya.”

Niall walked away and Louis spun around for a moment. He’d been tempted to watch the concert from the floor with his family, but had ultimately decided he preferred watching it from backstage anyway. His pacing had kept him from really watching, though, so instead of pretending he was paying attention to more than just the way Harry’s suit hugged his thighs, Louis went over to where Paul had left Louis’ paperwork he needed for strike.

At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but then Louis saw something was tucked into the papers that shouldn’t be there. Louis flipped to where the lump was and found a card with a drawn donkey wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket with red chucks on all four hooves. There was a thought bubble over the donkey that said, _Bad a$$ mother fucka._

Confused but smiling, Louis opened it and saw there was just a short written note.

> _If you want attention, I’ll see what I can do. xH_

“Oh God,” Louis said as he scraped his hand down his face. This felt like a dare. Or a threat. He wasn’t sure which he preferred, if either one.

But also the card. It was so random. What did it all mean?

Louis had just tucked the card back away when he heard the cue to start prepping everything so they were ready to go as soon as the audience had left the floor. Time to get to work. Louis could consider the enigma that was Harry Styles more later.

*~~***~~*

Louis stuck the most recent card into his bag with a smile on his face. Every tour date Harry had given Louis another ridiculous card that had nothing to do with anything and a random line or two written inside for him.

They had just arrived in the Philippines and Louis was exhausted. They’d encountered some difficulties with some of their crew visas getting into the Philippines so Paul had been spearheading that while Louis had taken over everything else and it was a lot.

A ridiculous card from a ridiculous man was just what he’d needed to get him smiling after a long twenty-four hours. Louis sat back in the seat and let his eyes close for a moment. He had approximately half an hour to sit and rest before he had to get back up and start working again.

Pulling out his phone, Louis decided to finally catch up on some of his text messages from his family so they knew he was alive. They luckily were familiar with how crazy things got while he was on tour, so they didn’t worry immediately if he didn’t answer for awhile, but he tried to reply to their texts at least once a day or so.

He texted his mum quickly and did a random check into the sibling group chat before he saw he had something ridiculous like forty texts waiting for him from Lottie.

Scrolling through, Louis saw it was mostly her sending her thoughts split into multiple messages, which wasn’t usual for her, but she did seem to be quite excited. Apparently she had started following Harry’s fandom a bit after the concert in London and had watched as the so called Rainbow Wars got more attention from the fans.

As Louis knew, the fans had kind of paid attention from the moment they started having the weekly competitions for decorating and themes, particularly when Harry was visibly part of the posts surrounding the ceremonies. When Harry started posting more often about Louis’ ridiculous rainbow antics and particularly gave him the title of rainbow lover, Lottie said more people started paying attention.

 _Lottie: Louis I’m being serious_  
_Lottie: They’re doing all sorts of searching and looking for clues and they have it pretty much narrowed down to you_  
_Lottie: Which isn’t huge or anything_ _  
_ Lottie: But they want to know what your title of being Harry’s rainbow lover means and that’s got me curious too if I’m honest

Louis kept scrolling and it was Lottie asking more questions and coming up with answers herself. By the end Louis was both embarrassed by how much she knew or thought she knew as well as amused by how many logical leaps she’d taken.

_Louis: You do realise you’re my sister and you don’t have to take what these randoms are saying to figure shit out? You can just ask me?_

Taking a breath, Louis shook his head at himself before finally asking a few questions of his own.

_Louis: Why are people so sure it’s me? And what do they think is going on with me and Harry?_

Tabbing over to his Instagram he found that he’d been tagged in several posts by the crew, which wasn’t unusual, but when he looked at one of them, it was a post by Zayn from after the Brisbane concert. It had been taken from above where Zayn had likely been working on the screen again. Louis and Harry were standing on the floor, their bodies angled towards each other, both laughing.

The more Louis looked at it, the more it made him smile. They looked happy to be near each other and comfortable with their physical closeness. It was simple and friendly, they weren’t even touching, but it still looked intimate in some unexplainable way.

Oh God. No wonder the fans thought something was going on.

Going back to his conversation with Lottie, Louis started damage control.

 _Louis: Just fyi, there’s not anything going on with me and Harry_  
_Louis: I know what that photo looks like, but there’s not. We aren’t even touching!_  
_Louis: Why am I saying all of this to you. You don’t believe me anyway and I don’t even know what time it is at home, but it’s probably late. Or early. Or something. I’m confused right now and overtired_ _  
_ Louis: Just...I dunno why I’m called his rainbow lover but there’s nothing happening with us, okay? So you can let people know. Or whatever.

Louis set his phone down on the desk and leaned his head in his hands, groaning. “Why am I such a fucking mess?”

“Probably because you talk to yourself when you’re sleep deprived and alone in an office,” Liam said before sitting down. “Alright?”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Thanks to Zayn’s photo, apparently Harry’s fandom thinks that I’m not only Harry’s rainbow lover, but that we’re seeing each other or something like that.”

Liam’s brow scrunched showing his obvious confusion. “You _are_ Harry’s rainbow lover, though.”

“Yeah but like, we aren’t together.” Louis flapped his hands around as if that would help explain what was wrong about what the fans were thinking. “We’re friends! Who decorate each other’s shit with rainbows and give each other ridiculous cards or whatever.”

Liam smirked. “Harry’s been giving you cards?”

Louis glared at Liam and asked, “Why did you assume it’s him giving me cards and not the other way around?”

Liam arched his brow and said, “You barely have time to occasionally throw around some rainbows. I doubt you have time to go and get cards for Harry. Plus cards are kinda Harry’s thing.”

Oh. Harry’s thing. Of course. Louis had started to think they were a thing for the two of them, but of course Harry does cards with others. He was ridiculous for thinking Harry was flirting with him using horrible greeting cards.

Louis tried to tamp down on the ugly feeling growing in his gut that was an odd mix of jealousy and disappointment as he gave Liam a wan smile. “Right. Harry’s thing.”

“Oh my God. You’re jealous over his bad cards.”

Louis scrunched his nose and kicked out at Liam. “Am not. Fuck off.”

“You are,” Liam said as he stood up. “That’s okay. I meant it, cards are Harry’s thing. He thinks handwritten notes are more personal and a better expression of thanks than anything else, but he doesn’t do them with regularity for anyone except you, Lou. Especially anyone he sees on a pretty much daily basis.”

The heavy ball of emotion that Louis was unsuccessfully ignoring loosened a little when he heard Liam say that.

“Yeah?”

Liam gave him a kind smile before he picked up the contract he’d come for and started heading for the door. “You’ve got him wrapped around your finger, mate. Niall and I are waiting to see who’ll win the next bet on when you two finally get your shit together, you know?”

“I hate both of you. Go get to work before I fire you!” Louis yelled as Liam left the room, but he didn’t hear a response other than Liam’s laughter.

Louis looked back at his phone and saw Lottie had replied with just a single line.

_Lottie: Methinks the lady doth protest too much._

Sighing, Louis locked his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. He had to get to work. Everything else could wait to be figured out until later.

*~~***~~*

“You’re famous,” Shawn said as Louis signed off on another one of the trailers that he’d packed himself. Shawn and Hailee both had picked up on things well and were almost entirely trained for all of their tasks. By the last leg of the tour, Louis expected he would mostly be supervising and helping out when needed instead of focusing so much on Shawn and Hailee.

Louis arched his brow as he finished scribbling over the papers that Shawn took back and shoved into his pockets again. “The fuck are you on about now?”

“The fans know you enough that they’re starting to ask security if they’ll get to meet you. You’re famous.”

Louis looked at Shawn in confusion. “Why the bloody hell do they want to meet me?”

They were interrupted by a question from one of the Stage Right girls and once Louis had helped her out, he turned around and saw Shawn still standing there, staring at him with a big, dopey smile on his face.

“What?”

“They know there’s something going on with you and Harry and they think you’re cute and those two things combined make them curious. I guess some are even making signs about how they want to meet you.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “People need to get their information from better sources, because there’s nothing going on with me and Harry.”

“Yeah, see, you keep saying that, but I don’t think you believe it. Harry sure doesn’t.”

Louis threw one of the rainbows he had shoved into his back pocket at Shawn’s face and said, “You need to get your head out of the clouds.”

“And you need to get yours out of your ass, Lou,” Shawn continued, following Louis as he walked through the maze of hallways backstage to get back to where everyone was finishing their packing inside the Impact Arena. “He _likes_ you. He’s crushing so bad and you won’t even let yourself see it! But I know you like him too. You wanna know how?”

“Oh my God, you won’t take no for an answer, so sure. Tell me how you know that I like Harry.”

Louis had said it in a voice he hoped came off as irritated, but really his heart was thumping like crazy. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer and he didn’t know if he was ready to hear it if Shawn really had picked up on the signs that Louis had been doing his damned best to cover up.

“You always look for him in a room. You watch every show from backstage if you can, which means some nights you even come in before the show when you’re only on pack up duty and could be sleeping instead. You do everything you can to get his attention, even laughing extra loud so he’ll look your way in a crowded room, and he does every time.” Shawn kept counting reasons on his fingers and Louis was feeling more and more embarrassed because fuck, he hadn’t even realised some of these about himself.

“Okay, shut up, fuck.” Louis said as he scrubbed at his face with his hands. When he’d started a few months ago, his hands had been so soft from irregular work. They were back to feeling rough and covered in calluses, but he liked them like that. They were proof of his dedication and love of his work. Rubbing them against his cheeks also helped him pull himself out of his own head for a minute. “Why does any of this matter? Why are you telling me this now?”

Shawn shrugged. “Just thought you should know. You’re famous, you like Harry, and maybe you should actually _do something about it.”_

Louis shook his head and said, “No. Nope. Nothing is being done about anything, unless you’re talking about getting the rest of this shit packed up so we can ship it all to fucking Japan.”

“Why not?” Shawn looked incredibly earnest and was even clasping his hands in front of his chest. “Come on, Lou. Why won’t you just ask him out? Give him a kiss? Anything?”

Louis waved his clipboard as he spun around. “Do you see all of this? We’re kind of busy, the both of us, and even if we weren’t, I’m a fucking roadie, Shawn. I don’t get to date gorgeously talented rock stars.”

“You’re an idiot. I give up.” Shawn walked back over to where Hailee was waiting for him.

Louis shook his head and turned around to find Niall. Ever since he and Shawn had decided to let everyone know they were seeing each other, Shawn had gotten more mouthy with Louis just like Niall was. Louis knew it wasn’t a coincidence that the boyfriends would tag team their attacks on him, but he was done with it. Why did they think Louis was the one who should make the move, anyway? Even if there was a chance that something could happen with them, Harry’s obviously the one who should ask Louis out. He was the famous one, the one whose entire life and schedule determined that of the people that surrounded him. Louis wasn’t an exception to that.

“Lou, are you ready?”

Louis looked up from his clipboard and realised Niall was right in front of him. He hated how thinking about Harry got him so distracted he didn’t even notice his surroundings.

“Yeah, I was just double checking that I’d finished everything I had to do tonight.”

Paul had given Louis the shorter list and was overseeing everything tonight so Louis could get some extra sleep before a day off tomorrow. Louis was planning to take full advantage and was very happy about the large, soft beds waiting in his and Niall’s shared room.

They continued to chat a little as they made their way to let Paul know they were heading out, but Louis paused when he saw the light was still on in Harry’s dressing room.

It was mostly broken down, but a few things were still getting packed up, so Louis walked in and pulled out a little pan pride flag he’d found stuck to one of the barriers outside. He was going to keep it for himself since it had a little sticky side, but instead he pulled out his felt tip and drew a little heart in the corner of the flag and stuck it to one of Harry’s favorite throw pillows. It was bolder than he’d been before and he wasn’t sure what had possessed him to do it now, but he went with it. Louis knew the care they were wrapped with, and they were taken to every show so Harry could have a sense of home no matter where he was. Hopefully the flag would make him smile again when he saw it in Osaka.

Giving a thumbs up and a soft _thanks_ to the crew working in there, Louis returned to Niall in the hall and shook his head.

“Shut up. Don’t say anything.”

Niall held up his hands, but gave Louis a smirk. “Wasn’t gonna say a thing. For now.”

“Sure. Let’s go get some sleep so we can get out and see some of Bangkok tomorrow before our flight.”

*~~***~~*

Louis stared at his phone. His face was flaming and he had no excuses because he’d brought it on himself, really.

_harrystyles: I love the colours that my rainbow lover brings to my life._

Louis sat and studied the photo Harry had captioned that way and his heart was skipping beats, it was going so fast. He was sure of it. It was a simple photo of the pan flag with the little lopsided heart drawn in the corner, but a little L had been added inside of it.

Had Harry added it himself? Why had he done that? What was Louis meant to do now? Harry was making it pretty obvious publicly what his feelings were, but Louis had no idea where to go. Just keep acting like nothing had changed? Or should he also make a public declaration? Harry had never made a statement on his sexuality as far as Louis knew, so he wasn’t sure if it was _safe_ for him to comment on Harry’s Instagram or send him a tweet so he could pay Harry back in kind. But also did he have the guts to address it in person? Probably not. Not yet, anyway.

Fuck.

All the same, Louis still wasn’t sure the way that Harry meant his title of Rainbow Lover to be taken, but Louis hadn’t missed the possessive. He supposed for now he would just keep going as he had been and bask in the fact that Harry had been calling Louis _his_ for weeks now.

Louis looked over at the card that had an image of a hedgehog beside a frog with a little pink heart between them. The cards had become daily occurrences now and Louis was starting to wonder where to keep those safe as well as all of the rainbows.

Thankfully, the crew had all taken the challenge to decorate with the rainbows to heart, and almost everything they used to travel and store their equipment (as well as some of the equipment itself) was entirely bedecked in rainbows. The weekly themes were becoming more and more ridiculous and Louis loved it.

Harry had also come up with a ridiculous cape that he had somehow fashioned out of at least five various pride flags that he donned whenever he announcing the winner of the weekly challenge. It was fun and apparently the fans all had taken to it just as much as the crew had. Everyone who had public profiles found their follower count constantly rising and the comments and likes were equally daunting. Outside of the confusing comments about some guy named Larry Stylinson, Louis thought it was great how involved Harry’s fan base were. They’d even contemplated letting the fans judge between finalists for the final competition, but hadn’t worked out the details yet.

Louis finally looked at the clock on the wall of the makeshift office and realised he needed to be on the floor doing final checks before soundcheck got started. He stuffed the card into his bag and shoved his phone into his pocket as he rushed towards the door.

Pulling it open, Louis was so surprised to see someone standing there with their fist raised to knock, he squawked loudly and physically jolted back with his heart racing.

“Fuck, Harry,” Louis said, breathless. Closing his eyes, he bent over to try to regain his breath and slow his heartbeat, but all it did was get him started laughing. “Oh my God, I did not expect you to be there. I’m so sorry for screaming in your face.”

Harry chuckled and said, “I’m kind of used to it by now, but it doesn’t usually happen while still backstage.”

Louis snorted and stood up straight again, closing the office door behind him as he joined Harry in the hall.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Sending Harry a smile, Louis took in Harry’s wide leg trousers with _Loved_ stitched into the cuff and felt warmth filling in more of the spaces in his chest that had previously been untouched. Clearing his throat, Louis asked, “What can I help you with?”

“Oh,” Harry’s eyes widened in surprise as if he’d forgotten what he’d come to speak about. “Right. I have a favour to ask you.”

Louis’ eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. “Okay. And what’s that?”

Harry bit his bottom lip and then looked to the floor with a shy smile on his face. Louis loved when Harry’s smile turned shy. It made him feel more human than he usual seemed.

Nose scrunching a little, Harry looked back up to Louis through his eyelashes and asked, “Can I take a photo of you? I have an idea, but it isn’t really working for me and I think you can help.”

Louis blinked. “A photo of me? Like now? I’m all grungy from helping unload the trucks earlier and shit.”

Harry suddenly looked guilty as he said, “Yeah, that’s fine. How you’re dressed doesn’t really matter, but now is kinda what I was hoping for? I already asked Niall if he could do the final checks for you so we could do it before soundcheck.”

Heat flooded Louis’ cheeks. Harry had obviously thought this out. Louis was also incredibly curious as to what kind of photo Harry had in mind that Louis could help with. He didn’t understand how his clothing couldn’t matter for a photo, but he figured he would learn soon enough.

Taking a deep breath, Louis looked Harry in the eyes and gave him a smile. “Well then lead the way, Harold.”

Harry rolled his eyes. It had been months now of Louis calling him Harold and Harry rebutting with _Just Harry, actually,_ but it seemed Harry finally stopped and just accepted the nickname.

Louis turned into Harry’s dressing room and saw Sarah sitting on the sofa, texting on her phone. Everything seemed just as perfectly homey as it always did, Louis’ addition of the stick-on pan pride flag still in place on one of Harry’s Gucci throw pillows.

“So what did you want for the photo?” Louis asked.

Brightening visibly, Harry stood up a little straighter and began to motion with his hands as he explained. “Okay, so I wanted a few photos, actually, but they’re all going to be close up photos and I kind of want the focus to be on the point where people touch and each one would have a background of one of the pride flags. Like...” Harry paused and pulled out one of the bi flags that didn’t have a message on it that Louis had stuffed into Harry’s things. He used a couple of clips that were on the wall to use it as a background then pulled Louis over. “Okay, so like or this one maybe it will focus on our hands. We could do it where we’re holding hands, or have our pinkies linked, or are just brushing the backs of our hands together.”

Harry pulled out an asexual pride flag and said, “Maybe for this one it will focus on our upper arms and just have the skin pressed together. And then maybe for the trans pride flag it could be a hug, and the pan pride flag could be a head on a shoulder, and the rainbow flag could be our ankles linked, things like that.”

Louis watched, intrigued, as Harry got a bit out of breath in his excitement to explain what he had in mind.

“So. What do you think? Think you’re up for it?”

“It’s an entire series of photos, not just one like you implied,” Louis pointed out first. “Isn’t that going to take time?”

“Oh.” Harry gave Louis a nervous smile with just the hint of his embarrassed nose scrunch.

He was too cute, and Louis really shouldn’t be thinking that right now, but Harry also basically asked if they could take a bunch of photos of them touching in front of various pride flags, so actually, Louis might be allowed to think that after all.

“Yeah, it might. I thought we would just do as many as we could before sound check and we’d finish them whenever we had a moment. If you’re okay with doing this at all, of course.”

Louis checked the time on his watch and then sauntered over to Harry. Harry’s eyes watched his hips sway, and Louis wondered how long Harry had watched him like that without him noticing. Either way, he liked it and would have to remember that for later.

Once Harry’s eyes and risen back to Louis’ eyes, Louis said, “Well. Better make use of the little time we’ve got now, hm?”

Harry gave him a blinding smile before turning to Sarah. “Ready for me to be the annoying photographer type again?”

“You’re always the annoying photographer type,” Sarah teased as she took the camera Harry held out for her. “Just tell me specifically what you want and I’ll take a fuck ton and hope for the best.”

The moment Harry’s hand touched Louis’ when they linked pinkies and then interlocked their fingers for a full on hand hold, Louis felt tingles course over his skin in waves. He kept shivering, to the point that Harry apologised.

“No, it’s fine. Really.” Louis gave Harry a smile and let himself study his green eyes and dimples and light dusting of scruff that had grown in since he had shaved that morning. Harry was always exquisite, but it was something else entirely when Louis was so close he could feel his energy thrumming through him.

Pose after pose had them sharing physical space in a way that felt intimate while still being innocent. By the time twenty minutes had passed and it was time for Harry and Sarah to do their sound check, Louis felt antsy and worked up in a way he hadn’t in years.

Unsure where he could find a safe place to pull himself together again after being so close to Harry for that amount of time, Louis was about to escape out of the dressing room after Sarah when Harry called for him.

Louis turned around and found Harry just as close, if not closer, as he had been for most of the photos. Harry lifted his hand and softly moved Louis’ fringe so it was out of his eyes. Louis had to close his eyes and take a shaky breath, the gesture was so tender.

Waiting until Louis opened his eyes again, Harry said, “I hope this isn’t out of nowhere for you and that I’m not reading the signs wrong, but I really like you, Lou.” He was practically whispering, and Louis could’t take his eyes off of Harry’s lips as he spoke. The way he formed his words, particularly Louis’ name, made Louis _need_ to press their lips together, but he held off a little longer to hear what else he had to say. “Please go on a date with me tonight? We could have a drink in my hotel room after you’re done with sign offs and packing up.”

Purely by his incredible force of will, Louis dragged his eyes back up to Harry’s and asked, “You’re sure? I’m just a roadie, Harry. You could do so much better than me.”

Harry sighed and shook his head. “You’re my Rainbow Lover. That’s all I want.”

“I can’t believe you started calling me that on fucking social media,” Louis said, finally getting enough control of himself to halfheartedly smack at Harry’s chest. If he left his hand there to pet at Harry’s chest hair a little, Louis figured it wouldn’t do any harm. “You hardly knew me and now all your fans are investigating and it was because you decided to publicly what? Flirt by giving me a code name?”

Harry’s eyes were sparkling and his lopsided smirk and dimples were out full force. “Yeah, but you _liked_ that, I know you did. My Rainbow Lover feels a true need for my attention and everyone to know about it, don’t you?”

“Oi!” Louis said, finally pushing Harry back and causing him to laugh loudly as he tripped over his feet a little. Louis made sure Harry was able to stay upright before he continued. “That’s enough of you thinking you know all about me already. Time for you to get out there and do your fucking job.”

Harry hummed before coming up to Louis and wrapping him in a big hug. “I’ll dedicate every song I sing during warm up to you.”

Louis struggled, but couldn’t release himself from Harry’s arms. “Fine. Whatever. Better make it something bloody fantastic or I won’t be coming by for our date tonight.”

Harry finally pulled back and waggled his eyebrows at Louis before heading out the door of his dressing room. The man was ridiculous, but that didn’t mean that Louis wasn’t hoping for a cheeky snog at the very least. After months of flirting, most of which Louis thought was a figment of his imagination, he felt it was the least he deserved.

*~~***~~*

Shawn was getting annoyed quickly. Louis was always everywhere until the moment he actually needed him. Some of the wires he and Hailee were taping were showing signs of damage and the back ups weren’t where they were supposed to be. Everyone was excited for the two nights they would have in Mexico City, but if a panel of lights wasn’t working because of damaged wires no one could find the replacements for, Shawn’s ass wasn’t the only one on the line.

“Zee! Have you seen Louis? He’s not answering his walkie.”

Zayn started climbing back up the ladder to secure the video panels. He was just out smoking, so Shawn hoped he’d seen at least a hint of Louis.

“Not in the last half hour or so. Last I saw he was in the office talking to Paul.”

Shawn nodded his thanks and rushed into the hall. He hated it back here during set-up. It was always just too congested for anyone to move around easily, with all of the equipment being guided around by everyone. They had it down to an art now that they were finally on the last leg of the tour, but that didn’t make the space any more comfortable for him to traverse.

The Palacio de los Deportes was practically a maze backstage. He only realised he should have gone left instead of right when he hit the end of the staff hallway.

“Fuck,” Shawn muttered. He turned on his heel and froze before he could take another step.

There, neatly hidden behind a dividing curtain and a large piece of equipment that would be moved sooner rather than later, were Harry and Louis in the middle of a full on makeout session.

Shawn pulled out his phone, snapped a quick photo without the couple even realising they’d been caught, and quietly made his way down the hall. Maybe Paul could help him with the cords. These two would be disturbed soon enough.

First, though, Shawn pulled up Instagram and found the private group account the crew started once they learned how many of the fans were following their personal accounts. They used it as a log of sorts for all of them to share the photos not meant for anyone outside of the staff.

Lately, it had been more of a tally to see how many times Louis and Harry could be caught on tour. They’d only been going out for a couple of weeks, so Liam insisted that they would calm down eventually, but until then the crew would shame them by taking photos and posting them to the private Instagram group, captioning it with the city they were in.

Photo loaded, Shawn put his phone back in his pocket, and walked in what he hoped was now the right direction to find Paul.

It only took Louis five minutes to text Shawn a middle finger emoji and he knew exactly what it was for. Getting a high five from Hailee and a kiss from Niall in congratulations for the excellent photo, Shawn sent back his own smiley emoji and regretted nothing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I would be especially thankful if you liked the fic and decided to share that with me through a kind comment and/or kudos. Both preferably, but I won't be picky. hehe I also have a fic post for it [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/180921864918/this-is-a-rainbow-war-by-lululawrence-with-art-by) should you like to reblog it! You can also tell Laura how beautiful her art is [here](http://harrehleh.tumblr.com).


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